“Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one was a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God I thank you, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, and I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote his breast, saying God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalts himself shall be abased, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.”
Pharisees were the religious elite of that time and publicans, though wealthy, were religious outcasts. Jesus contrasted the prayers of a Pharisee and a publican to show the value to God of humility over self-righteousness. (It is likely that Jesus personally witnessed these two at prayer.) What was wrong with the prayer of the Pharisee? He was selfish. Notice that the Pharisee prayed “thus with himself.” He appeared to be talking to God, but he was only muttering to himself. His religion was based on himself rather than on God. We can call this misplaced faith. Read this carefully: If we are not careful, we can make our religion, our faith, about ourselves and not about Jesus We see this all of the time in churches, because people put their wishes and needs ahead of the will of God, as though it is all about them. Phariseeism did not die out in the first century. It is still among us. He was self-important. The Pharisee was very impressed with himself. Notice that he thanked God that he was not like other men, in fact, he thought that he was better than all other men. He even glanced over to the publican and thanked God that he was not like him. He even boasted to God about his fasting and tithing. The Pharisee was attempting to use his religion to advance his own importance instead of advancing the kingdom of God. Evidently, he did not realize that God knew his heart, and that the outward practice of religion should come from a heart of faith, not as a means of self-aggrandizement. If we are not careful, we will become very impressed with our religious practices and forget about what is in our hearts. We will look down at other people as being less than ourselves because they are not as “religious” as we are. We should not think that we have immunity to this kind of thinking. We also call this “self-righteousness.” He was self-satisfied. In his own mind, the Pharisee had arrived. He was complete as he was. He had no more growing to do. Compare this to Paul’s, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended.” We never reach a point in our spiritual growth when we can say, “I can stop now. I have this religion thing all figured out.” That is not humanly possible. There is always something in our lives that needs changing. In contrast, Jesus pointed out that the publican simply prayed, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” God heard this brief and simple prayer and rejected the highly religious prayer of the Pharisee. Jesus gave the bottom line on why one prayer was heard and the other rejected: “For everyone that exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.” This will be forever true! Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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September 2021
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